Yosemite Land-Exchange Petition Tops 6,800 Signatures

Petition delivery adds to opposition over proposed road access to Hazel Green Ranch, a dispute SNO covered in August.

A petition opposing a proposed land exchange involving Yosemite National Park has surpassed 6,800 signatures, adding another development to the debate over private road access along the park’s western boundary.

Yosemite Rivers Alliance says it delivered signatures September 23 to Interior Department leadership, California’s congressional delegation, the state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom. The organization’s online update reports that participation has exceeded its original goal of 5,000 signatures.

The petition concerns a proposed exchange that would allow road access through park land to Hazel Green Ranch, an approximately 83-acre private property outside Yosemite owned by Kingsbarn Realty Capital.

As Sierra News Online reported in August, the company is seeking a shorter connection between the property and Big Oak Flat Road. Questions about access from Hazel Green into Yosemite have persisted through earlier ownership, development proposals and litigation.

The latest development is the delivery of public opposition to federal and state officials. It does not represent a decision on the proposed exchange.

“We set a goal of 5,000 and people blew past it,” said Patrick Koepele, executive director of Yosemite Rivers Alliance, in the organization’s September 24 press release.

According to that release, signers came from 57 of California’s 58 counties and 44 states. More than 500 were residents of Stanislaus, Merced, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties.

The petition also follows objections from elected officials. A September 15 announcement from Sen. Adam Schiff’s office described a bipartisan group of 157 lawmakers urging the Interior Department to abandon the proposal.

Opponents argue that using national park land to facilitate private development could establish a precedent affecting other protected places.

Kingsbarn has offered a different assessment. In an August 29 statement, company attorney Lanny Davis argued that a shorter access route would reduce travel over unpaved forest roads, improve driver safety and lower vehicle emissions. He said the proposed exchange would not reduce the park’s total acreage and would remain subject to federal review requirements.

Interior previously said no final decision had been made, a position also noted in Yosemite Rivers Alliance’s latest update.

For readers following the issue, the distinction remains important: Hazel Green Ranch is already privately owned. The dispute concerns whether an exchange involving neighboring national park land should provide a more direct route between that property and Yosemite.

The petition’s delivery marks another step in that debate, while the question of whether the exchange will move forward remains unresolved.

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Feature Photo: Hazel Green’s lower meadow in October 1927. The area’s longstanding connection to Yosemite is drawing renewed attention amid a proposed land exchange involving access to privately owned Hazel Green Ranch.
Photo Credit: Yosemite National Park Archives / National Park Service, RL_08078. Public domain.